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Holly was starting to get very emotional, and I could see it could become something she would be upset at herself over later. She wouldn’t want to break down in front of her guests. She wanted so badly to look like this was effortless for her, just a part of being the world’s best bed and breakfast owner. Only, I knew better. I knew how hard she worked, how much she worried over making sure everything was perfect.
I squeezed her hand and she lifted her face to look into mine. A thick strand of hair running away from the ponytail she had pulled back in rebellion stuck to her cheek with a tear. I wiped the wetness away and brushed the hair back over her ear.
“Hey, come with me,” I said.
“Where?”
“The tree, silly,” I said.
I pulled her to her feet, and we walked across the room. Looking back at the families enjoying their gifts and chatting with each other, she smiled, and I kissed her head. She deserved to see how things came together after how hard she’d worked.
“I got you a little something,” I said.
I reached down and pulled up the biggest present left under the tree, the one I was most excited for. She unwrapped it quickly, tearing at the paper and tossing it aside. The logo was revealed almost immediately, ruining any tension almost instantaneously. But I didn’t care. The look on her face was worth it anyway.
“You bought me a new coffeemaker?” she asked, a combination of laughter and that touched ‘aww’ sound people make coming out of her afterward.
I nodded.
“I did,” I said, proudly. “You have no idea how hard it was not to give it to you before now.”
“Oh, I bet,” she said, giggling. “Poor boy, you’ve had to suffer with sub-par coffee for so long.”
“Look,” I said, ignoring the teasing, “it has all kinds of little settings. You can make a whole pot or make individual cups, and set the temperature and everything. It even has a little compartment for sugar and creamers.”
“It’s wonderful,” she said, holding it to her chest. “Now your turn.”
Holly bent over and reached under the tree, pulling out a perfectly wrapped gift that I didn’t remember seeing her wrap. She was a sneaky one when she wanted to be. I ripped open the packaging and my jaw dropped. It was a blanket, made in dark coffee colors, that she had made for me.
“You made this for me?” I asked. “I saw you working on this!”
“I did,” she said, smiling wide. “I call it the coffee blanket. What do you think?”
“I think it’s amazing,” I said. “Thank you so much.”
I pulled her in for a hug and noticed that there was something hard inside the blanket. Pulling back, I unwrapped it carefully and found what she had hidden inside. A bottle of the local moonshiner’s top shelf rum and some cookie cutters. It was so thoughtful, so personal and sweet that I pulled her in again, hugging her tight to my chest and kissing her head.
“Thank you,” I said. “This... this means a lot to me.”
“I’m glad,” she said, obviously pleased with herself. “Now, do you think we can get the guests in to eat breakfast? I noticed a couple already snagged rolls, but I think we need to get the rest eating before they forget.”
“I think we can convince them if we tell them that it’s cinnamon rolls, yes,” I said, laughing.
“Hey, everybody,” Holly said, taking a step toward them and raising her voice just enough to be heard over the laughter and chatting. “I have fresh baked cinnamon rolls in the dining room, along with coffee and orange juice and some eggnog for anyone that wants some.”
“All right!” Vint said. “I want some cinnamon rolls, Daddy!”
“Then let’s get some,” his father said, taking him by the hand.
Slowly, the entire group of guests made their way into the dining room and started digging in. I hooked up the new coffee maker and made us both inaugural cups from it, and we bundled up to step outside and get a breath of fresh air.
We didn’t plan to be outside long, but it was nice to get away from the inside for just a second. I had longed just to be inside all evening last evening, to get away from the cold and the wet. But that was after a long day and with a ton of stress on my shoulders. Now, even though I didn’t sleep a lot, I had some, and the big part of the day was over.
We stood silently, sipping our coffee as we leaned into each other and looked out over the fallen snow. It glittered like diamonds in the sunshine.
“This is really good,” Holly said. “What flavor did you say this one was?”
“Maple macchiato,” I said. “The box came with a few pods, and I thought I would try them out first. The old machine you have was confounding and terrible.”
“It is,” she admitted. “But this is spectacular. Here’s to good coffee.”
We clinked our mugs together and sipped again.
“All in all,” she said, “I think this was a very successful Christmas.”
“Me, too.”
As the words escaped my lips, a tow truck pulled around the corner. My face fell, and then slowly a laugh built up inside me. What timing.
“That’s my car.”
The laugh became full and loud, and Holly joined me.
I was still laughing when she returned from dipping inside, coming back with a paper napkin full of cookies and a Styrofoam cup full of hot cocoa. She handed them to me and I brought them down to the driver, Munton, and we spoke for a minute at the edge of the drive. Then he dropped the car off and waved the cookies out the window at Holly.
“These are delicious,” he called out. “Thank you! Merry Christmas!”
“Merry Christmas!” she called out to him.
“That was a very Snowflake Hollow thing to do, you know,” I said as I made it back to her.
“What, the cookies?” she asked.
“And the cocoa,” I said. “Maybe this place is in your heart after all.”
“Maybe it is,” she said, placing her forehead against mine and closing her eyes for a moment. “Maybe it is.”
A little while and a small nap later, we got dressed and went over to see Mom. The shawls and blankets Holly made for the folks at the center were ready in the bag, and when we got inside she started handing them out. The folks there loved them, and when we got to Mom she was thrilled to see us and gave us both a big hug.
We sat with them for a little while, talking and chatting and noticed that there were a couple of people there who didn’t seem to have any family with them. Holly mentioned it to me, and I mentioned them to Mom.
“Are they alone?” I asked.
“Oh, yes, that’s Gerard and Samantha. Gerard’s children couldn’t make it this year. Samantha doesn’t have any, and her sister passed away a few months ago,” she said.
“So they don’t have anyone?” I asked.
Sadly, she shook her head no.
“Well, I have an idea,” Holly said. “Why don’t you come over to the bed and breakfast for Christmas dinner. Invite them to come with us. We can have a celebration there and they won’t be left alone for the holiday.”
“Are you sure?” Mom asked. “That would be absolutely wonderful.”
“Sure,” Holly said. “Come on. Let’s get you packed up.”
She smiled and went over to the two of them while Holly and I packed up her things. Holly said she wanted to make sure that she had enough there that, if she needed to, she could stay the night in one of the empty rooms. I packed everything she would need, and we put it in the car before coming back. The two people she spoke to were smiling wide, and the gentleman flicked a tear from the corner of his eye.
“Hello,” he said as we joined them again. “My name is Gerard. Your mother says that you would like us to join you for Christmas dinner?”
“Yup,” I said, shaking his hand. “I’m Lawson. This is Holly. We’d like you folks to come over if you don’t have anything else pressing.”
“I don’t,” Samantha said. “I’d love to come.”
“Will there be cookies?” Gerard asked slyly.
“A mountain of them,” I said.
Gerard smacked his hands together and smiled.
“Hot dog, that sounds like a good time. I miss real Christmas cookies. The stuff they have here is that pre-packaged stuff.”
“Well, you’re going to love these,” Holly said.
“Do you make them?” he asked, grinning.
“No,” she said. “He does. I try to avoid burning things.”
Gerard laughed.
“Well, that’s all right then,” he said.
As we made our way to the car I casually noticed as my mother took Holly’s hand and squeezed it, smiling.
“Thank you,” she said softly.
“Of course,” Holly said. “It’s Christmas.”
